Shelter For The Stray Dogs
by QueenBlueshimmer
Summary: A new Armed Detective Agency recruit is rescued from a fire by the Port Mafia. When they are unable to get information from her upon arrival, the organization's leader sends people to track her down. When Chuuya Nakahara finds her, her suicidal subordinate Osamu Dazai saves her and what started as a kidnapping may become something else entirely.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

" _Please."_

Smoke filled her senses, burning into her nose and eyes. Her hands grasped blindly towards something, anything, to keep her from the grey haze's stinging claws. But there was nothing there for her to hold onto, and somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew it was a losing battle. And still she silently called out, hoping someone would hear.

" _Please. Don't let me die here."_

The smoke dragged her into the dark, and she began to lose consciousness. Her stinging eyes began to close, the lids becoming heavy, impossible to keep open. Her lungs strained for breath as they filled with the heavy hanging gas. Her arm shrieked in pain as the flames finally reached her, and she became aware of a new smell: burning flesh. But she couldn't scream, as the world went completely black.

Just before she closed her eyes completely, she thought she heard the faintest sound of footsteps on the stairs.

* * *

Her eyes snapped open; before squinting against harsh, blinding light. She groaned and tried to roll over, only to let out a quiet scream at a sharp pain in her left arm. Looking down, she saw that it was wrapped heavily in bandages, which were soaked through with blood. She stared at them in confusion until the events that had caused the wound flooded back to her and she pressed her lips together. How had she gotten here?

The sound of footsteps rang through her memory and she decided that whoever had come up the stairs must have brought her here and patched her up. She let out a small sigh, allowing herself a moment of euphoric relief before raising her guard back up. Just because they'd saved her didn't necessarily mean she was safe. For all she knew, they planned on trying to get information from her before killing her themselves. Who would go to the trouble of saving her from a fire and taking the time to patch her up, she wasn't sure.

Just as she was about to get up and see if there was any way to escape this room other than the door across from her, the door in question opened to reveal the last person she'd expected to see.

A woman with a blonde ponytail; thin glasses atop her nose; and a pressed, black suit stood in the doorway, staring at her with cold, burgundy eyes. The woman's mouth was pressed into a line as thin as her own. She wasn't happy about this either, it seemed.

"I didn't think you'd be awake yet." She said, her tone slightly awkward. Her eyes flickered over her stain bandages and she full out frowned. "I was just coming in to change those."

"Who are you?"

"Ah!" The woman's cheeks tinted slightly pink. "Right. I'm Ichiyou Higuchi."

She nodded back at her. "Hello Ms. Higuchi."

Higuchi waited for a moment, before it became apparent that she wasn't going to give her name. With a sigh, she walked over to her, producing a roll of clean bandages and unwrapping the old ones. She tried not to hiss in pain as they were peeled away from her arm, revealing the scarred flesh underneath. Higuchi pulled a small bottle from a drawer in the stand beside the bed and poured a murky, greenish liquid over her arm.

"It's only Aloe Vera." She said, catching her expression. "It'll help-"

"Yes, I know what it does." Her blue eyes narrowed.

Higuchi shrugged and spread it gingerly over the area of blackened skin, before wrapping a bandage around it tightly. "That should be alright. I'll send for Mori to come speak with you, now that you're awake." She paused, gauging her reaction before adding, "That was a close call you know. You've been out for four days."

Four days?

Seeing the shock on her face, Higuchi awkwardly patted her head. "Don't worry, we've taken good care of you." She stood up and walked out the door without another word, although she did glance back for a moment.

Not long after, a man in a black trench coat and red scarf over a suit with a striped tie walked in, followed by two more men. One had a similar black coat over a dress shirt, adorned with a ruffled neck scarf she found ridiculous. The other wore a vest and jacket over a white shirt and yet again a long, black coat that he wore like a cape on his shoulders. He also had a red and black hat and he seemed to be quite…short. She had to look away and hope he didn't notice how hard she was trying not to laugh. If he was a Port Mafia member than a funny fashion sense and a lack of height wouldn't change the fact that he was a potential threat. Luckily for her (or unluckily, depending on how you viewed it), the first man, whom she assumed was Mori, spoke up.

"I'm glad to see you are alive and well, Ms.…." Mori paused, expecting her to give her name.

She didn't. "Mori, is it? Thank you for helping me." She gave him a thin smile.

Mori, however, frowned at the obvious rejection. "You're welcome. It's quite something to have the Port Mafia save you." The unspoken words were clear: You owe us.

"Yes, I'm sure it would be for anyone else." Sure, she was grateful to them for saving her life. Of course she was. But she would not owe them anything. Definitely not this Mori, who probably hadn't, and wouldn't have, lifted a finger to help her. She could already tell by the wide, yet blankness of his crimson eyes and the cold smile on his face that he was obviously unhinged. She was willing to bet it would start to show more as this conversation continued.

"Anyone else? You seem to regard yourself highly." Mori laughed.

She refrained from rolling her eyes. "You misunderstand me, Mori." She returned the laughter. "I simply am not as easily fooled as most people."

The mood in the room became noticeably cooler after she finished speaking. She locked eyes with Mori, fire against water. They might have continued their silent battle of wills all day if the man with the white-tipped hair hadn't spoken up.

"Fooled? Do you believe the Port Mafia would stoop to such levels as to save someone only to use it as manipulation?" His dark eyes seemed to try and cut through her, but they met with fierce resistence.

"Yes, yes I do." She did not remove her gaze from any of the people in the room. "Now, if you'll kindly excuse me, I wish to leave."

Mori's calmness wavered slightly and she saw the tinge of madness that she'd been expecting, not behind his eyes, but on the surface at point blank range. "Very well." He replied, his tone cold yet still that of a gentleman. She smiled slightly wider to let him know that she'd caught on. He didn't react to her, and that was fine.

"Chuuya, please escort the lady to the entrance." He gestured towards the odd man with the hat. His face was emotionless as she rose and walked over to him. It seemed that they had left her in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, although the latter's sleeve had been burned away on the side with the bandages.

Stepping out of the room, she was faced with a maze of hallways. If this was trap, she was already a goner, although she certainly wasn't going to admit to that. Instead she followed 'Chuuya' down several of the passages before he broke the silence.

"You aren't going to get away with that, you know." His voice was deeper than she'd thought and she almost started laughing again.

"I think I'm fine. This isn't my first time fighting fire, and it would be my last." She kept her speech vague despite her internal laughter, knowing full well this man was the enemy.

"That so? You really do regard yourself highly."

"What, are you deaf? I said that's wrong. I simply have half a brain, unlike you it seems." She replied shortly.

"Shut up." He snapped back at her and she took pride in finally getting a rise out of one of these people, despite him being the most hot-headed person she'd ever met. She had decided to voice that last part just as Higuchi appeared around the corner.

"Nakahara." She said politely before catching sight of her behind him. "You're leaving already?" She lowered her voice thoughtfully. "I thought Mori would question you for a while."

"I'm not interested in spending my day making nice with your crazy boss, Ms. Higuchi." She sighed irritably. Why did these people expect her to just roll over for Mori?

Higuchi did not seem surprised. "I figured not. You wouldn't even tell me your name." She then turned and left down the way they'd come. Chuuya started forward again, not even waiting for her to follow. "What _is_ your name, anyway." He asked.

She stayed silent, an obvious rejection. Anyone in their right mind would have seen that much. But Chuuya did not seem to realize she wasn't planning on telling him, or he just didn't care. "Well? I'm waiting."

She sighed. "Miaya Shinohara." She lied. No way was she giving this random stranger her real name to report back to the Steins; Gate rip-off back there.

The entrance appeared quicker than she expected, and she had to keep herself from dashing out the doors. Chuuya pushed them open instead, leading her into the street.

"Ah, Chuuya! Thanks for bringing her out for me, I was afraid I was going to have to come in for her." A familiar voice yelled. Chuuya tensed, annoyance and anger twisting his face.

"Like hell you would, Dazai! You'd just sit on your ass while someone else did the work for you!" He snapped back at the brunette man on the sidewalk. Dazai only smiled and laughed. "Why do it myself when I have an alcoholic with a stupid hat to do it for me!"

This time, she couldn't contain herself, and she went red in the face with laughter. Chuuya cursed both of them angrily at least a dozen times before she could breathe again.

"Anyway," Chuuya snapped, face red in anger although it was directed at Dazai mostly. "I did what I had to and brought Shinohara outside, now get off the property."

Dazai didn't ask who Shinohara was, just nodded. "Okay, okay." He said, looking irritated. "Jeez, your attitude is almost as bad as your fashion sense." And he turned and walked off, leaving her to follow him. She looked back at Chuuya for a second.

"Thanks, idiot." She smirked and left a very angry Chuuya in the street.

 _ **Hooray for the first chapter! To clear up confusion, the main character is a new recruit for the Armed Detective Agency, so that's why he's there to get her. Also I got to add in some Soukoku fighting, so I'm happy about that. I should have the next chapter up by next week and if I don't you can all chase me around with torches and pitchforks, okay? Well then, that's all folks!**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"Did you know him?" She asked as she fell into step with Dazai.

Her subordinate smiled and nodded. "Yeah. That was Chuuya Nakahara." Although he answered the outright question, he didn't attempt to explain how he knew him, which suited her just fine. She hated intrusiveness, so why pry into someone else's personal life?

"You'd swear that none of them had a brain, expecting me to just let Mori interrogate me." She wrinkled her nose, face tinting red in her anger. Dazai looked at her out of the corner of his eye, a slight frown replacing his usual smile. "You met Mori?"

"I assume you know _him_ too? Yes, as I just said, he wanted to interrogate me. Although he didn't get past my name, which I didn't give." She snorted. Dazai chuckled, the earlier tension gone. "Yeah, that idea to give a fake name was brilliant. Now they'll have trouble tracking you."

"Tracking me, eh? Figures, if they think I know information. I mean, I _do,_ but I'm not sure whether it's the kind they want." She pressed her lips together into a thin line. Could they really want information on Shōmetsu?

 _Now that I think about it, that could very well be the case. But what would they want with that organization? Allies? Would they really want to destroy something that badly?_

"Hey, don't look so worried, Miura! You have the Agency's protection." Dazai said cheerfully. "I doubt that's what they're interested anyways."

They continued walking in silence until they passed a small shop with pastel colored bricks and one of those cloth overhangs over the window. It was an ice-cream shop, one she pasted every day and never really took notice of. But Dazai, it seemed, had.

"Hey, I've never seen this place! Wanna try it, Miura?" He turned to her with an excited expression, like a child at, well, and ice-cream shop. She hide her smile and put on a bored look. "Why? What is it, anyway?"

Dazai gasped in horror. "Ayako Miura, you mean to tell me that you have never been to an ice-cream shop!?" He looked stricken, as if this were his own problem and Ayako almost lost her composure.

"Nope, never. What's so great about it?" She tilted her head, although her brain was exploding with the sheer effort of maintaining the calm, bored persona.

He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her inside. "I'll show you!"

And that was why, ten minutes later and not a half hour after she'd woken up from a four day coma and nearly been interrogated by the Port Mafia leader himself, Ayako Miura sat at a table in an ice-cream shop across from her subordinate Osamu Dazai holding a cone of chocolate ice-cream.

Dazai watched her, wide eyed as she began to eat. The flavor was great, although she had already known that. But she put on a surprised-yet-pleased look and turned to him. "It's really good!"

He grinned in triumph, flapping his hands around like a silly pigeon. "I told you! Now you can't say there's nothing great about it!"

It was at that moment her composure crumbled and she bent forward in laughter, not even caring if the people around them stared. She covered her mouth with her free hand, sitting up to stare at Dazai's startled face. "I'm sorry Dazai, I lied."

He blinked at her, not getting it. "Lied? About what?"

"This. I totally knew what it was, I pass it every day on my way to work." She giggled as realization dawned on his face. "Oh, so this was just a ploy to get me to buy you ice-cream then."

"Yep. I think I deserve it after being nearly burned to death and then practically kidnapped by your friends from the mafia." She puffed up her cheeks before having a little more of her ice-cream. Dazai looked thoughtful and then laughed with her. "I guess, but your buying next time."

Next time. She grinned. Yeah, she could live with that.

* * *

"I want her found and questioned. Our sources reported that she has information on that organization." Mori barked at the Port Mafia members gathered around him.

"So, why did we let her go again?" Michizou asked.

"Dazai was waiting at the door. If we didn't give her back, then we'd be in serious trouble." Motojiro replied, tugging on his collar. A few of the mafia members nodded, looking nervous. If Dazai got involved, things wouldn't go very smoothly for them.

Chuuya grumbled internally. He hadn't been pleased to see his traitorous former partner. He'd been even less pleased when the girl had given a fake name, borrowed from a dead woman found at one of the shipping ports. If they could find her, under the protection of Dazai and perhaps the Armed Detective Agency, it would be a miracle.

"What are you all waiting around for?" Mori snapped. He seemed even angrier about this than usual. Maybe it was she'd managed to brush him off, escape interrogation without even leaving a name, and insult him in one strike. Then again, maybe it was a matter of sheer pride. Whatever the reason, everyone scattered off the look for the girl with whatever resources they had. Chuuya decided that the best course of action would be just to show her picture and ask around. A simple minded, little effort of a task, but effective all the same.

He spotted Higuchi hunched over a computer, the screen displaying police data. She seemed slightly unhappy, perhaps because she'd seemed to get along well with this mysterious burn victim. Chuuya didn't overly blame her, but someone should remind her that this girl was their enemy.

With all of that in his mind, Chuuya Nakahara set off in search of the girl who had thanked him for taking her to the door after practically trapping her in a room with a man she obviously hated.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Ayako sighed as she put down the receiver. "We have a case."

Her partner, Kyouka, looked up. "What are we supposed do?" The fourteen year old girl spoke with a detached tone. They kept a polite air to their arrangement, and all she knew was that Kyouka was also a newer recruit, with a combat ability controlled through a cellphone.

She shrugged. "We're to pick up a package at the docks and deliver it to a man in the east side of the city."

"It's a trap." Kyouka replied, frowning.

"Yes, I know." No one from the east side of town could afford to have a package imported, nor could they afford to call the Agency to pick it up for them. Still, they had to go and investigate, figure out why they were being led into a trap. If someone was looking to harm the Agency, they needed to be dealt with.

"Let's go." Kyouka palmed her stun-gun, and exited the room, not waiting for Ayako to follow. Sighing, the woman set off behind her with a mumble about the impatience of teenagers.

When they arrived at the docks, the area was empty. Definitely a trap. Ayako immediately put her guard up, eyes searching for any sign of an attacker.

"Stiff as last time we met." Called a familiar voice. Turning around, she saw him making his way toward them, an air of nonchalance surrounding him as if he had tricked her only to come talk.

Yeah, right.

"Chuuya Nakahara, what a pleasure." Ayako growled. Fighting to keep her face neutral, she looked over at Kyouka. "Be ready." Her partner nodded and they both looked back at the short man before them. Once again, Ayako wanted to giggle. He was the same as he'd been three weeks ago, comically short, trying to act as though he were bigger than he was. God, he was practically a Chihuahua at this point.

Ayako sighed. "What are you here for, fashion advice?"

He glared. "No, thank you. I think you know exactly why I've come Ms. Miura." So they had found out who she was. Fan-freaking-tastic.

"Yeah, I thought you let me go to easily. Too bad, because you won't catch me twice." Ayako replied shortly. Next to her, Kyouka shifted her weight to the side with the stun-gun.

Chuuya noticed the movement and shrugged at her. "Guess we're doing this the hard way." And he came rushing towards them, the ground at his feet caving in on itself. Ayako recognized this ability. It was gravity manipulation, a dangerous ability that let the user alter the gravity of whatever they touched. Which summed itself up to 'don't let him touch you.'

Kyouka, whether she knew this or not, rushed at him, the stunner raised. Ayako wondered briefly if he could manipulate the gravity of pure energy, but decided better of it. The shock would probably come to quickly anyway, which meant as soon as Kyouka got him, she could move in.

But she didn't get a chance. Chuuya changed course abruptly, and Kyouka's own momentum made her unable to change with him fast enough. She was knocked down, air leaving her lungs, and tossed aside. Then he turned to her.

"I'm curious, Ms. Miura, as to what your ability is."

"I guess you'll find out." She snarled, giving up one composure. All she could hear was the impact of Chuuya's fist into the younger girl's torso ringing in her ears. She'd never been close to Kyouka, but she was her partner and still a child regardless of ability or demeanor.

She lunged forward, and saw him lunge as well, but he stumbled on open air as she jumped skyward, flipping behind him. He didn't give much pause to the move, swinging a fist into her side. Ayako lurched to the side, barely catching herself. Her ribs screamed in agony, and she tasted metal on her tongue as her personal gravity righted itself, no longer crushing her bones under it's weight.

Ayako turned, ignoring the pain in her chest. "Ability: _A Winter's Heart_ "

The air turned frigid, until you could see the puffs of breath from their mouths. Chuuya laughed. "Don't tell me your ability is making it cold!" He let out another laugh, but his smirk died in a flash. He let out a gasp of pain and fell to the ground.

She didn't need to see the dark bruises forming across his skin to know what was happening. His blood was freezing in his veins, expanding and popping a few vessels if she had to guess. She knelt down beside him.

"My ability freezes a person's blood. Even as we speak, the ice is slowly creeping its way to your heart. Once that freezes over, you die." She did not smile, as one might imagine someone with such an ability would. Ayako took no pleasure out of hurting people, but she could do it. And no way was she letting him take her back to the Port Mafia.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kyouko getting up. The girl looked at Chuuya, then at Ayako and nodded. "We should go back to the Agency."

With a small sigh, Ayako let Chuuya out of her grasp. She watched as he pitched forward, retching as the blood in his throat escaped. Then he collapsed, probably from internal bleeding.

"We should take him back. Regardless of what I said, we can't let him die." Ayako muttered, already slipping her shoulders underneath his arm. Kyouka raised an eyebrow before coming over to help.

"If you think so." And they set off for the Agency with a dying enemy in tow.

 ** _God, I hated having to write Chuuya's defeat. I love him to much for this, ugh! But Chuuya favoritism aside, this is a really short chapter because I'm having a bit of writers block. I'm sorry if Kyouka seemed weak in this chapter, but I didn't really know how to write her into the fight sequence. Also, I realize Ayako is kind of a Mary-Sue/Overly powerful in this one, but it was necessary to advance the story._**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Ayako paced outside the door as Yasano worked. No matter how much she disliked Chuuya Nakahara, she'd still almost killed him. Sure, she had practically been forced to, but that didn't make her feel any better about the situation.

Atsushi looked over at her from his desk and gave her a sympathetic smile. "I know, hurting people is one of the worse parts of this job. At least you didn't actually kill him." Ayako grimaced at his words. "Yeah, that doesn't make it any better."

"Oh please, Chuuya can handle a beating every now and then. It's good for him, keeps him from getting to high up on that horse of his." Dazai walked up to her and shrugged. He handed her a cup of coffee, which she took gratefully. She'd been there for hours now, waiting for Yasano to finish healing the Port Mafia's Chihuahua.

"They knew my name." She said after a while. Dazai raised an eyebrow at her and leaned against the wall. "They certainly work faster nowadays." Ayako nodded grimly. "I think they know about Shōmetsu as well." She wrung her hands together at the mere thought of the monstrous organization. Atsushi leaned forward in concern. "Hey, it's alright. They can't know much about it if they need you to give them information."

Nodding, she turned at the sound of the door opening. Yasano walked put, her tank top and doctor's coat spattered in blood. "He took a while to heal up, but he's awake and better now. I'd get whatever information you need before he reaches full health." Ayako thanked the Agency's doctor and stepped into the room behind the door.

Chuuya was propped up in a sort of hospital bed. He scowled when he saw her, narrowing his eyes. "What do you want? Information I suppose?" Ayako pressed her lips together tightly, pulling a chair over to the bed and sitting down.

"Well mostly I just felt bad about almost killing you." She started, making Chuuya raise his eyebrows. "But I also want to know what the Port Mafia knows about an organization called Shōmetsu." Even before she'd finished speaking, he had let out a sigh.

"I'm sorry Ms. Miura. I can't give you that information." His tone implied that he thought she was a complete idiot. Ayako snorted. "And yet you can try to kidnap and force me to give you information about them." At this, he scowled again.

"Or is it that you don't know anything." She tilted her head and Chuuya jolted. "Of course we know about them." Ayako smiled thinly. "Really? Did you know that they have wiped all of their allies off the face of the planet?" Chuuya suddenly paled and Ayako gave an internal _Aha!_

"Oh I see, so the Port Mafia wants to ally with this group, but they also want to know what kind of allies they'd be. That information I'll give you." Ayako leaned forward. "They won't be allies at all. They'll be the snake at your feet that'll strike once you exhaust your use."

Chuuya's face became taunt and full of dread. "I had heard they were cruel, but to destroy even their allies?" Suddenly, Ayako couldn't contain her laughter. "What!? The Port Mafia doesn't do the same thing!?" She gasped and doubled in on herself. "It would be quite the match made in heaven."

"I will not let the Port Mafia be destroyed!" Chuuya shouted at her angrily, clutching his side in pain. "I must tell Mori immediately!" Ayako sighed and stood up.

"Sure, as soon as we deem you fit to leave." And with that, she left the room, ignoring Chuuya's protests.

 ** _Omg, okay, I finally updated this! It's been a really long time, but I had the worst case of writers block. I still haven't gotten over it either, which is why this chapter is so short. Also, sorry that the first publication of this got messed up, no idea why that happened._**


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